Every word Son said on his Tottenham contract, Bentancur's emotional text to him and Mikey Moore
You're one of the few left from the Champions League final squad, how determined are you to captain Tottenham to a European trophy?
Yeah, it's a dream. There is no hiding this. That's what we work for. Obviously, we are looking for another big competition that everybody wants to win. It's going to be tough, a tough competition, a lot of games and a lot of travelling, which makes it even harder. We've just got to be ready and take it seriously the competition, because it's a massive competition.
It's a bigger competition now and is there a danger of losing the quality of the matches with so many games for players in the schedule?
A lot of players came out and said the right things. It was very important for someone to say the right things. Sometimes players are the main guys to have to say something. There's definitely a lot of games and as a football fan who loves football you want to see quality games not as many as possible.
You don't want to see players struggling with injuries. No one wants to see it. A lot of games, a lot of travelling. We've got to look after ourselves, which sometimes it's very hard. Mentally, physically you're not ready then going on to the pitch and then with the risk of injury is massive. We're not robots. We have to look after that and reduce the games definitely - better quality definitely should be the aim.
The problem is though, what tournaments don't you want to play in?
Don't get me wrong, we love playing football. That's clear. But the travelling and how much games we play. It's not just the games. It's preparing, mentally and physically. It's a lot of work. It's about adding more games. City played Sunday and Tuesday and it wasn't even flexible. It could be moved probably to play Wednesday in stead of Tuesday. It's not flexible. That's what we're talking about. It's normal that everyone is at high risk of injury. It's not fair. Rodri said the right things. We play 50, 60 games and not more than 70 games. It's not fair.
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Would you go on strike?
You want to get to the finals and play a lot of games. That's a different scenario. But the platform [format] is to play more games. That's not right to look after players. That's what we're talking about. What we can do is definitely change it and definitely go in a good way that people can look after the players.
Is it the players' responsibility to sort it out?
Definitely not the players. When the fixtures come, the players have to play. There's a lot going on. You have the FA and FIFA. Everyone has to take this really seriously. It's not just random and a few players coming out. There's way too many games and what you want to see is the quality of the games. High quality games with top players. This should be the aim. Injuries sometimes come with less games but the possibility of lots of travelling, lots of games, injuries will be higher.
What's the latest on your contract situation?
We haven’t talked (about) anything yet. It was very clear for me, I’m very focused for this season. At this age, every second is like a goal. Especially this season, we are in a lot of competitions, it feels like I’m taking even more care about this.
I’m just fully focused on this situation and this year. I just want to win something that everybody in this club and these players and all around deserves. That’s what I’m working for.
In the future, you never know what’s going to happen. But I will make sure I give everything for this club. It’s almost ten years that I give everything. We’ll see what happens. I still have a contract with the club which is the main important thing. I just want to give everything while I have my contract.
What's the difference between the young players now compared to when you were young?
When you are young, you don’t realise how massive the responsibility is. But when you’re the oldest player in the squad and you see the young lads, you just want to help them. What this means in the Premier League or playing in these big clubs. It changes so much in ten years’ time.
I just want to be good friends, good team-mates and showing I’m doing the right things on and off the pitch. It takes a lot of responsibility but it’s a joy. We have some unbelievable players. Ten years has gone way too fast which sometimes makes me a little bit sad. But what can I say, do the right things, be a good example to every young player to be a top professional.
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Speaking of young players, you've got a talented young team-mate in Mikey Moore who the fans are hoping to see play tomorrow. How good can he be if he continues to work hard and do you feel a responsibility as a captain and a winger to help mentor him?
Yeah, he's a fantastic boy and obviously, I mean, he's coming from the academy. You as a club, you look after him even more. Everybody is so welcoming and looking after him, so do I, because he's such a lovely kid and working hard every single day, coming with the first team with that age it's not easy, you know, like sometimes you're very shy.
But he's showing good personality and working hard, which is very important to me. When you see the young players are working hard in the first team and you just want to help, you just want to help him. When I was young, and now he's coaching at Manchester United, Ruud van Nistelrooy, he was helping me a lot in my Hamburg time.
Now I want to be that guy as well, you know, just having him around me and just talking about things, because we are playing in a similar position that if I can help him a little bit with advice, then I'm always open to it.
Mikey is also coming to me most of the times and asking questions, which is very fun. I enjoy talking to him. He's a fantastic boy and then I'm definitely sure that he can be a fantastic player. There's no doubt because he has such amazing quality.
As we always say about young players, let's don't give him too much pressure on his shoulders. Just let's enjoy how he develops, how he improves every single day, every single season and as a fan, as supporters, we should just enjoy watching him and he will be, I think, one of the top players.
When I spoke to Dejan Kulusevski in the summer, he said he to really adapt his game as a winger to play under Ange, and he's now a midfielder. Have you had to adapt as a winger because you like to cut inside like Deki and Ange prefers high and wide wingers?
No, I think it's all about the the manager's system, and then you just also have to adapt, which is very, very important, but it doesn't mean that I have to stay all the time in the wide areas. Sometimes in the last game I was cutting inside, making these inside runs and when Dom [Solanke] comes into a deep position when he dragged the centre backs out of the position then I'll make the runs into this space.
I think it's all about depending on the situation, but Deki is the kind of guy who wants to be more in the middle so that he can handle the ball really well with his back to the opponent and I think that's his game and he's a joy. At the moment, he's having a great season.
One thing that not everybody is talking about is that Deki's workrate is unbelievable. He's everywhere on the pitch, you know? I think people don't always see that, you know, but like, he works really hard that I think so hard that I when I see all the data and sometimes I get shocked, you know? So it feels like he never stops running.
I think players all appreciate what he does and with the ball, with the quality that he has there is no doubt that every position he can do. I think as a manager, I think he can put him anywhere and he'll do the right thing for what he what he asked to. So, yeah, there is no doubt about what he does, and he's doing amazing at the moment.
I wanted to ask you about your relationship with Rodrigo Bentancur after what happened in the summer, and your reaction now that he's been charged by the FA?
At the moment, there's a process from the FA, that's why I can't say much about it. But I love Rodrigo, I love him. I love him. We have a lot of good memories, we started playing together when he joined. He apologised straight afterwards when we [were on] holiday. I was at home, I didn't even realise what was going on. He just sent me a long message, and you could feel it was coming from his heart. When we came back to the training ground for pre-season, he was really sorry and he almost cried.
He apologised in public and personally as well. It felt like he felt was really sorry. We're all human, we make mistakes, we learn from it. I love Rodrigo, I love him, I love him. He knows he made a mistake but I have no problem at all. We move on as a teammate, as a friend, as a brother. We move on together. We just have to wait what the FA says in the process, I can't say much. But one thing is I love Rodrigo. So there is nothing more to say.
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